Pro gaming pays: Fatal1ty tops the eSports charts earning $454,544

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Professional video games tournaments, so-called electronic sports or eSports, are becoming increasingly big business. In fact, it has reached a point where parents may actually encourage their kids to go pro after viewing the latest earning figures.

The e-Sports Earnings website has posted the top 100 pro gamers based on how much money they have earned over their careers solely from eSports tournaments. These aren’t small figures. In 100th place is Polish player neo who has earned a grand total of $66,183.28, with his most lucrative game being Counter-Strike. Move up to 50th place and we see the Korean player JangBi. He has earned $128,347.99 by mostly competing in StarCraft: Brood War.

The money starts to increase substantially when we enter the top 10. The 10th place pro gamer earned $267,699.10, and 5th place $367,902.11. But top of the list is a name many gamers will know quite well: US pro-gamer Johnathan “Fatal1ty” Wendel. Over the course of 35 tournaments he has earned a massive $454,544.98. Over half of that has been collected playing Painkiller ($240,550.00).

Becoming experienced enough to compete with these guys takes a lot of hard work and training, just like anything you want to get good at. But the money is clearly there to be made, and if you’re serious (and good enough) it could actually turn into a career.

It’s also worth pointing out that the totals listed for these pro-gamers are just for eSports tournaments. They should all be suplementing that income with sponsorship deals and other tournament series. Fatal1ty is a good example of this, having had a series of ASRock PC gaming components, and even gaming food, carry his name or official backing.